


Chlonette Week 2017

by breeeliss



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Arguments, Awkwardness, F/F, First Meetings, Humor, Pining, excuse the bipolar tags, gotta put warnings for each individual one shot lol, one-sided crushes, past friendships, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-12 01:26:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12948336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeeliss/pseuds/breeeliss
Summary: Prompts for Chlonette Week 2017 on Tumblr (@chlonetteweek)12/7 - Helpless: Chloé and Marinette's best kept secret is that they didn't always hate each other.12/8 - What Is This Feeling?: Chloé asks Marinette for a rather distracting favor, and Marinette isn't quite sure if she's going to be able to survive it.12/9 - If I Could Tell Her: A day in the life of a lovesick Chloé Bourgeois





	1. Helpless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloé and Marinette's best kept secret is that they didn't always hate each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** this prompt is dedicated to their first meeting. how did they feel about it? did they hate each other on sight? were they confused by their own feelings?

“Why is your outline for that chapter so long? You do realize that’s the chapter  _ I’m _ presenting on, right?” 

Chloé gripped her pencil in her hands until it audibly cracked. “I’m writing down the important parts of the chapter. Just like the assignment sheet says. What is the problem?”

Marinette looked off to the side as if the remainder of her patience was lying dead near the windows. “The assignment sheet said to  _ summarize _ the chapter. Not write down every single little detail. Our presentation is only ten minutes long. Which means we each have only three minutes to speak. So if you’re going to make it that long then how am I going to — ”

“Then you do it!” Chloé snarled. “Why are you presenting on my part of the report anyway?” 

“Because you’re impossibly lazy and you wanted to present on the shortest chapter! Which means that now we have to read off of each other’s reports for the presentation and you’re making yours too long.”

“I told you to go to Mme. Bustier and tell her to switch our chapter assignments. But no, you waited until the last minute and now it’s too late.”

“I was perfectly happy with my assignment! You were the one throwing a hissy fit.  _ You _ had to got to Mme. Bustier.”

“I was  _ busy _ this week, that’s why I told you to go do it.”

“All you do is sit around and file your nails all day, you’re telling me you didn’t have time to go do it?”

Alya smacked her hand on the study table and made both of her study partners snap their heads up. “Both of you need to shut up.” Alya pointed her pencil at Chloé. “Your outline is too damn long, and you’re gonna get points off that. Tighten it up and stop complaining.” And pointed it at Marinette. “And you. Stop being condescending. That’s just going to start a fight and god  _ help me _ if we don’t get through at least half the project before the period ends. So reign it in for two freaking seconds and just work.”

“You reign your friend in!” Chloé demanded. “She started it!”

“And I’m finishing it,” Alya said. “Now get back to work before I yank out the extensions I  _ know _ you’re wearing.” 

Chloé grabbed her hair and glared at Alya as if daring her to follow through on the threat. But Alya shoved her notebook against her chest and stared at her until Chloé went back to writing. 

Mme. Bustier’s rationale behind the group assignments was that Marinette and Chloé needed to get used to working harmoniously with each other and Alya seemed like the perfect person to balance out their personalities and serve as a go-between so that the project would run smoothly. As much as she loved Marinette, Alya would’ve much preferred being paired with Adrien and Nino again over spending more than half the time ending petty arguments and getting no actual work done. 

It was strange because Marinette was extremely level headed and polite when Chloé wasn’t in the room. But the moment the two of them were forced to be within a meter of each other, things got extremely ugly and Alya wasn’t sure if she had anymore patience for it today. 

The most recent truce only lasted for fifteen minutes before Chloé sighed dramatically and pulled out a nail file from her pencil case. “Can we take a break?” she complained. “We’ve been at this for ages.”

“We’ve only been in the library for half an hour,” Marinette mumbled as she continued to annotate her textbook. “You’re not even halfway through the chapter yet.” 

“Because history is a ridiculously exhausting subject,” Chloé huffed. “I’ll take as many breaks as I want.” 

Marinette sighed. “You don’t care about doing well on this, do you?”

Chloé scoffed. “Absolutely not. I find the whole concept of homework to be redundant and insulting to my intelligence.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that sounds like the  _ exact _ kind of thing an intelligent person would say.”

Alya dropped her pen and pushed her glasses up to rub at her eyes. “We were doing so well….” she groaned. 

“Excuse you, Dupain-Cheng, you seem to be forgetting who helped you with your maths assignments during the entirety of 9ème. You certainly appreciated my intelligence back then.”

“That doesn’t count, we were eight,” Marinette said. “Besides, the only reason you were doing well was because your father got you a maths tutor right when you started école. Which is totally cheating, by the way.”

“Don’t you insult Mlle. Huppert,” Chloé frowned. “She helped me with all of my homework until she graduated university. And, as I recall, she helped you too whenever you came to my house to play.”

“Again. We were eight. Apparently whatever Mlle. Huppert taught you didn’t rub off because here you are acting like a baby about a silly class project.” 

“Just because I don’t see the point in homework doesn’t mean I’m not smart, you stupid brat.”

Alya had one of her brows raised during the entire exchange. “Wait a minute. You guys were in école together?”

Chloé leaned back in her chair. “Unfortunately…”

“What do you mean unfortunately?” Marinette asked. “We made friendship bracelets in arts and crafts together. You begged your father to keep us in the same class when we moved up to 8ème  _ and _ 7ème.”

“I did not  _ beg _ him!”

“You so did! You and I started crying on the last day of 9ème. We were hugging each other and refusing to go home because we didn’t want to be separated next year. Your father had to come in and pull string and keep you happy.” 

Chloé returned her focus to her hangnail. “Ugh. Whatever.”

“Hold on.  _ Hold _ on,” Alya announced. “You two need to backtrack for me really quick.”

Marinette made a show of pulling all her books closer and trying to get back to her reading. “It’s not a big deal, let’s just get back to work.”

Alya snorted. “So it’s fine to take breaks when you two want to fight but suddenly work is more important than talking about you two actually being civil when you were younger?”

Chloé shifted in her seat. “I mean….for the sake of accuracy….isn’t wasn’t just us being civil.”

“Can we seriously not do this?” Marinette begged. 

“Too late,” Alya grinned. “I want an answer. What was your deal?”

Chloé’s face softened, and she looked at Marinette as if silently asking her whether or not it was okay to relay the details that Alya was asking for. Marinette got this sick look on her face like the words that were prepared on her tongue were going to make her retch, but she swallowed back the feeling and refused to meet Alya’s eyes when she went ahead and said, “We… were best friends in école.” 

Alya’s eyes bulged. “What!?”

Marinette seemed reluctant to confirm but she nodded regardless. “We were in école together for three years before we came to Françoise Dupont. The two of us were practically inseparable.” 

Alya leaned forward in her chair and darted her eyes in between the two girls who were awkwardly turning away from each other and sitting on the edges of their chairs. “You mean to tell me that the two of you stop just short of pouncing on each other whenever you’re in the same room, but six years ago you were trading friendship bracelets and were terrified to move up a grade without each other?”

Chloé spread her arms wide. “We. Were. Eight. Things were simpler back then.”

“How did you guys meet?” Alya asked in awe. 

Marinette chuckled. “Chloé was defending my honor.” 

“There were these three boys who were yanking on her braids on the first day of school,” Chloé explained. “So I marched over to them, pushed one of them into sandbox, and threatened to tell the teacher on them. I think Marinette was crying so I redid her braids, said her hair was pretty, and asked if we could be friends because it was a new school for me and I didn’t know anyone.” 

“And we held hands all the way to the classroom, even when our teacher started to break us up into separate tables.” Marinette smiled softly. “I guess she didn’t have the heart to separate us up because she always sat us right next to each other from that day on.” 

Alya eyes crinkled in amusement. “That’s quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.” 

Chloé shrugged. “We were really loud, we liked dressing up our dolls more than we liked playing with them, and we were the co-founders of the anti-boy club we started with the other girls in class. We were perfect for each other. Besides, up until then my only real friend had been Adrien. I was dying to have a girl best friend for once.” 

“I’m pretty sure that’s why we hung out so much,” Marinette said, directing the comment at Chloé as if she’d just come to the realization. “Whenever you came to my house it seemed like you had a long list of things you wanted to do before you left. Like you were checking off a bucket list.” 

“Oh definitely,” Chloé confirmed. “Adrien could never fit into my dresses and he hated watching princess movies with me. He liked watching those fighting animes more. So the first thing I did when you invited me to your house was pack all my dresses and princess DVD’s into a bag so that I could show them to you.”

“Now that you mention it, you were really intense about me liking those movies.” 

“I had no one else to talk to about them.”

Marinette laughed. “Remember those fashion shows we used to put on?”

Chloé tipped her head back and cackled. “My mother walked in on us wearing her evening gowns and high heels and I think Marinette was wearing some of her lipstick.”

Marinette turned to Alya. “That was the start of my fashion designing career, by the way.”

“Seriously?” Alya exclaimed. 

“Chloé had expensive taste, of course, and I always used to be amazed that there were people out there who could sew something so pretty with just their own two hands. And eventually I figured out that I wanted to be one of those people and make something pretty.” 

Chloé nodded. “I got her a sewing kit for her 10th birthday I think. To get her started.”

Marinette blinked and hummed in thought. “You know….I think I may still have that. The pink one with the hearts and roses on it, right?”

“Yeah that’s the one.” Chloé tilted her head and furrowed her brows. “You kept that all these years?”

“It’s on my window sill,” Marinette said. “I still keep spools of thread in it.” 

Chloé let out a long breath. “Oh….”

Marinette chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Is that….bad?”

“I mean I thought you threw it out or gave it away.” 

Marinette shook her head. “Too pretty to throw out.” 

A tentative silence grew between them as they sat with the revelation. It seemed like the reminder that Marinette might not want to keep anything Chloé had given her anymore had sobered them up and thrust them back into the reality of their current situation because they broke their gazes and turned back to their books, shoulders hunched and faces twisted in discomfort. 

Their words were enough for Alya to feel the lingering intensity of their past friendship, and during those few precious moments of nostalgia, Marinette and Chloé had gotten along more beautifully than Alya had ever seen. Up until now, their rivalry had always felt like this petty, ridiculous, and at times hilarious attempt at breaking each other down because Marinette hated Chloé’s selfishness and Chloé hated Marinette’s popularity. Classic butting of heads. But seeing them look so thoroughly awkward next to each other made Alya decide that this was more tragic than anything else. 

It probably wasn’t any of her business, but the reporter in her couldn’t help but ask the question. “Why did you stop being friends?” 

Marinette rolled her eyes and flipped a page of her book. “Ask Chloé.”

“Don’t you start,” Chloé frowned. 

“Start what?”

“Start your whole holier-than-thou, I-did-nothing-wrong, I’m-the-victim performance.”

“Excuse me?”

Chloé turned to Marinette again but kept her demeanor cold and distant. “I’m not the only one who screwed up, okay? You are completely incapable of thinking about anyone’s feelings aside from your own and you took it out on me.”

“ _ I _ took it out on you!?” Marinette was raising her voice. “You followed me to Fraçoise Dupont because you were dead set on making my life miserable like I’d wronged you somehow. Whatever happened between us when we were ten is no excuse for close to three years of being a complete monster.” 

“You did wrong me!” Chloé countered. “You called me a terrible person and a horrible friend even though I did nothing to you!”

Alya was eyeing the librarian who was scowling at how loud their argument was getting. “Guys, okay, calm down — ”

Marinette snarled, “I never said that to you!”

“Yes you did!” Chloé insisted. “Don’t try to make it seem like I’m remembering it wrong because I remember it perfectly. You stood in front of me with half of our class behind you and said that you didn’t want to see me ever again because I was a terrible, horrible friend who didn’t care about you. Which is bullshit, Marinette, because I did care about you.”

Marinette scoffed. “You seem to forget that right before I said that, you pushed me away from you and said that you didn’t need some stupid, poor baker’s daughter trying to comfort her about things I could never understand.”

“I was angry!” Chloé explained.

“Angry about what?” Marinette asked. “You realize that I thought you hated me because you avoided me for close to two weeks and wouldn’t talk to anyone? Not even to me? I called your house everyday, I came to that hotel every single day. You didn’t want anything to do with me. I finally corner you one day and ask you to tell me what’s wrong, and you just snapped — ”

“No,” Chloé corrected. “No, that is not what happened. You came up to me and asked what was wrong and I told you to leave me alone because I didn’t want to talk about it. Then you went into this whole rant about how whatever it was, it couldn’t have possibly been so bad that I couldn’t call you or go to the movies with you. I had to just get over it. Because literally  _ everything _ is about how you’re feeling and not about how I’m feeling.”

“I can’t read your mind Chloé! You wouldn’t tell me why you were upset. So yeah, I assumed it was something stupid.” 

“I didn’t have to tell you anything! And how dare you assume it was something stupid.”

“I was ten!” Marinette exclaimed. “I didn’t know what the heck it was, stupid or not. And yeah, I was hurt that you were avoiding me. I mean, god, what was so bad that you treated me like I was some stranger you didn’t recognize.”

“My parents got divorced, alright?” Chloé finally shouted.

Alya felt her heart sink as she watched the horror slowly take over Marinette’s face. Chloé’s chest was heaving from the exertion of their argument and all the rage was beginning to simmer down into humiliation as she sunk into her seat. Chloé didn’t wait for Marinette’s response and instead started packing up her books. “I’m going home,” she muttered. 

Marinette was still too stunned, looking at a point off into space. “You didn’t tell me that, Chloé….”

“Because you wouldn’t have understood.” Chloé’s voice was getting thick and Alya was too afraid to make herself known and try to stop this conversation before the two of them really hurt each other. “My mom  _ left _ me, okay? She didn’t just leave my father. She got up and left and didn’t leave any way for us to contact her. She didn’t even tell me when she was leaving. I had to come home from school and listen to my butler tell me what happened. I was ten thinking my mother didn’t want me and that she regretted being part of a family with me, but no. Marinette needed a friend. Marinette needed to play with dolls. Marinette needed help with maths and wanted to gossip about stupidity while my life was falling apart.” 

“That’s not fair!” Marinette cried out, and yes those were definitely tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. “I didn’t know, you can’t blame me for that.”

“No you didn’t know.” Chloé slung her bag over her shoulder and got up from her seat. “And you would never know. Because everyone loved you. Your mother loved you. Your friends loved you. Strangers loved you. There was never any doubt that people wouldn’t gravitate to you. Meanwhile, once I lost you and lost my mother, I had nobody.”

“So that’s why you started bullying me?” Marinette asked. “Because I made one mistake that you wouldn’t let me fix? Because you were jealous?”

“I wasn’t jealous!” Chloé snapped. “I wanted everyone to realize that you weren’t perfect. That you could be just as mean and nasty as I could.”

“I don’t pretend to be perfect. I never pretended to be perfect. We were both young and we both said stupid things, and you would punish us for that all these years later?”

Chloé blinked and cursed under her breath when she realized that there were tears rolling down her cheeks. “It wasn’t going to work, Marinette. Things happen for a reason, people leave for a reason. And as far as I’m concerned, they can stay gone. Because I don’t need friends or my mother or you to feel important. I do that just fine by myself. Because I’m amazing. And anyone would be lucky to know me.” 

Marinette scowled. “So that justifies it? Justifies all the horrible things you do to everyone else, all the horrible things you do to me. None of us are as important as you are, so you’re just gonna step on us and make us feel horrible about ourselves until we see how brilliant you are by comparison? Until we know how it feels to be you?”

“Don’t pretend to know my life, Marinette!” Chloé snapped. “There you go again!”

The words were stuck in Marinette’s throat and they came out sounding broken. “I’m not pretending to know your life, I’m trying to understand what happened to you. I know you, I’ve known you longer than most people, and you were never cruel, not even for a moment. If you need me to apologize to fix this, then fine, I’ll apologize, but the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do was understand how to make you stop all this and go back to being — ”

“What?” Chloé asked. “Being friends with you?”

Marinette swallowed and set her jaw. “Being you. We don’t have to be friends. If it’s too late for us, then fine. But I want you to go back to being the person who protected and defended this skinny, tiny little girl she didn’t even know without a second thought. Because I miss that person.” 

Those last words made Chloé’s bottom lip tremble, and Alya felt like she was watching the two of them balance precariously over the edge of a huge chasm that had kept them separated for years. For a moment, it looked like something was about to shift. That maybe Chloé would join Marinette on the other side or that they’d at least meet in the middle and promise to revisit the thought. But Chloé gnawed down on her lip and breathed in through her nose as if she was composing herself and putting on the face she kept on for everyone who dared question her. And then Alya realized that whatever steps forward the two of them had just taken, Chloé had pulled them back right where they started with a single look. 

“I’m going home,” she decided. “I’ll send you the report tonight.”

Marinette watched Chloé stomp out of the library and shut the door behind her hard enough to shake the frame. Marinette didn’t look hurt and she didn’t look angry. She looked discouraged — as if she’d finally realized that anything involving Chloé was bound to crumble to pieces, and that she would always be too helpless to stop it.

Alya cleared her throat. “Babe, are you okay?”

Marinete lifted her chin, squared her shoulders, and sat back down in her seat. “I’m fine,” she lied. “We can just finish without her.” 


	2. What Is This Feeling?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloé asks Marinette for a rather distracting favor, and Marinette isn't quite sure if she's going to be able to survive it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** a journey into them slowly discovering that the way they feel about each other is different

“Hey! Dupain-Cheng!” 

Marinette rolled her eyes at the sound of Chloé’s voice and shifted back in the hopes that Chloé wouldn’t see her hiding underneath the courtyard stairs. It always seemed like it was physically impossible for Marinette to spend her free periods in peace without this girl finding her and distracting her with something ridiculous. She had portfolios to submit for two of her applied arts classes by the end of the week, and there was no way anyone was going to keep her from at least finishing her linework before the school day ended. But Chloé had never been interested in anyone’s problems except for her own, and it was really rather stupid of Marinette to assume that Chloé would notice her panicking and leave her alone. 

“Three steps back, Bourgeois,” Marinette called out. “You are not bothering me right now.”

Chloé stopped mid-stride and scoffed. “Well, excuse me, what crawled up your ass?”

“Final assignments,” Marinette muttered.

“Due when?”

“On Friday.”

“It’s Tuesday. You have time to help me.”

Marinette groaned. “I am not interested in getting into another debate with you. For the last time, you are warm toned, and that  blue eye makeup makes you look gross and washed out.” 

Chloé narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you dare rehash that. Besides, those are tall words coming from a girl who can’t even do a smokey eye right.”

“Oh my  _ Gooood! _ ” Marinette threw her sketchbook off to the side and finally looked up at Chloé who must have just come from outside since she was still wearing her peacoat on one arm. “If I humor you, will you make it quick so you can leave me alone?”

Chloé crossed her arms. “You sew, right?”

“Is that a trick question? Do you know me?”

“I mean, do you have sewing stuff on you right now, you ignoramus.” 

“Yeah, why?”

“Perfect.” Chloé leaned down, collected Marinette’s things, and pulled her up from her seat on the ground. “You’re coming with me.”

Marinette tripped to catch up with Chloé as she led them upstairs to where the classrooms were. “Woah woah woah, what the heck, where are we going? You know how hard it is to monopolize that spot under the stairs?”

“No one cares about your stupid real estate claims, Marinette, you already agreed to help me, so shut up.”

“If this ends up taking all period I’m literally going to hire someone to kill you.” 

“Good luck with that, sweetie. And if you’re as good as you say, this won’t take any time at all.”

She took them to an empty chemistry lab and locked the door to make sure no one came in after them. Chloé dropped Marinette’s things on top of the teacher’s desk while Marinette asked, “Alright. What’s the emergency?”

Chloé didn’t say a word as she let her jacket drop to the floor and held out her right arm. Marinette’s eyes flew open as she bit down on her bottom lip to keep from bursting out into laughter. “Oh, honey….”

“Don’t you start,” Chloé warned. “This isn’t my fault.”

Marinette placed a hand on Chloé’s shoulder and inspected the sleeve of her blouse that was literally hanging off her shoulder by a single thread. It looked like it had been completely ripped out of its seam, but Marinette was having a lot of trouble understanding how Chloé had managed that seeing as how this looked to be a Gabriel brand blouse that probably cost her over a hundred euros. “Do I even want to know?”

Chloé looked to the ceiling. “I….may have been in the middle of yelling at someone….and got my sleeve caught in the locker….and tried to stomp away….and then I heard a rip.”

Marinette gave her a deadpan stare. “You are such an idiot.” 

“This is not the time to be focusing on my failings,” Chloé said. “Can you sew it up or not? You can see my bra through the hole of the shirt now. I can’t go to class like this.” 

Marinette sighed and stared at the ruined seam. “I mean, it might be easier to just go home and change.” 

“I’m not going to have time. I tried calling my butler but he’s busy handling something important for Daddy. I wouldn’t have come to you if I wasn’t desperate.”

“Oh gee thanks,” Marinette sneered. She turned around and started rummaging through her bag for the travelling sewing kit she always carried. “It won’t look pretty, but I can sew it up really quick so that at least the sleeve is attached. To do it properly, I’d need my sewing machine which is at home.”

Chloé waved off the offer. “Attaching the sleeve is fine. Just need to get through the day. I’ll order three new ones when I get home.” 

Marinette pulled a face. “Oooh, I’m Chloé, I’m super rich, I’ll just buy three of everything I break.” 

“God, you’re annoying.” 

“Keep it up or I’ll sew the sleeve to your collar.” 

Marinette pulled out a baby blue thread that was the closest match to Chloe’s blouse she could find and started to thread the needle. “Alright, this might be easier if you take off your shirt. If you’re fine with quick and dirty, I can fix it in about twenty minutes.”

Chloé smirked as she unbuttoned her shirt. “Quick and dirty, huh? Interesting word choice considering I’m about to get half naked.” 

“Ha ha ha,” Marinette droned. “Get over yourself.” 

Chloé scoffed. “Figures the first girl I get naked for in like six months is one that won’t even appreciate it.” 

“Tragic.” 

“Truly.”

“Shut up and hand me the shirt, you narcissist.” 

Chloé pulled the shirt off, rolled it up into a ball, and threw it right in Marinette’s face while she was tying off the end of the thread.. “There! Happy?” 

Marinette ripped it off her head and was about to tell Chloé to cool it with the sarcasm before she permanently ruined her blouse. But whatever she was about to say was immediately blown out of her mind as her eyes zeroed in on Chloé and the fact the fact that she was currently standing in front of her while wearing an incredibly expensive looking bra that was certainly a little too…. _festive_ for everyday wear. 

Now Marinette wasn’t an ogler. She knew how downright uncomfortable it was to have boys staring at her legs when she wore short skirts and trying to get peeks down the front of her shirt in the middle of class. So she always tried to be conscious of not letting her eyes linger for more than a couple of seconds out of respect for the other person because that’s the kind of treatment she would’ve wanted in return. 

Except it was really kind of hard not to stare when Chloé’s bra was way too low cut, way too see through, and way too covered in lace to be appropriate. Chloé was all soft skin and round curves, and Marinette didn’t even have the energy to be annoyed at the fact that Chloé’s pride in her looks was very well founded. 

Marinette must have been quiet for a while because Chloé had to snap her fingers in front of Marinette’s face to get her attention. She raised a delicate brow and asked, “You good?”

The only thing Marinette could do was swallow and point out the obvious. “You’re wearing lingerie….” 

Chloé huffed. “Yeah, don’t remind me. I forgot to hand my delicates over to the maid when she did laundry yesterday so all I had to wear this morning was the expensive stuff. Ridiculous, right?” 

Marinette pulled in her lips and nodded. Ridiculous was  _ not _ the word Marinette was thinking of, but she didn’t trust herself enough to speak. Instead she pulled Chloé’s blouse inside out and started to realign the hem so she could pin it in place. “Let me, uh….get started on this then.” 

Marinette still didn’t like Chloé no matter how much effort Adrien put into whipping the girl into shape and teaching her revolutionary new concepts like manners and courtesy. She was still loud mouthed, still annoying, still spoiled, and still dead set on annoying Marinette using any means necessary. Fine, it was mostly harmless now and in a way Marinette sort of enjoyed the banter if only so she could completely humiliate Chloé and get her to feel a little humble for once — but it didn’t matter because she was still a brat and that wasn’t about to change. 

Chloé wasn’t allowed to mess that dynamic up by being attractive. Well, okay, Chloé had always been pretty. Marinette’s opinions about Chloé aside, she wasn’t blind and she certainly wasn’t one to ignore an objective truth. But, as shallow as it sounded, it was really hard to focus on how stupid Chloé’s face looked when she was standing in a get up straight out of one of Marinette’s very confusing yet highly enlightening day dreams. 

Wow, she was staring again. This was so not fair. 

Focus on sewing. Just focus on sewing. 

Luckily, Chloé was more interested in standing off to the side and playing on her phone than paying any attention to what Marinette was doing and for that she was grateful. Oxford cloth was something Marinette had worked with dozens of times, and she managed to fix the shirt with a simple running stitch that was good enough to last Chloé throughout the rest of the school day without further incident so long as she was careful with it and didn’t get it caught in anymore lockers. Not her best work, but not bad for only having a ten euro travel kit on her. 

Marinette was tying off the thread and cutting the excess when she felt Chloé lean in next to her to observe her work. Or rather, she felt Chloé’s breasts pressing against her arm in a way that would’ve felt intentional if not the for the fact that Chloé genuinely didn’t seem to realize how much of Marinette’s personal space she was taking up. “Wow. You’re kinda not awful at this.” 

“Wow, you’re kinda welcome.” Marinette subtly moved two inches to her right and pulled the shirt rightside out again. “Alright. Try it on. Is it too tight?” 

Chloé pulled the sleeves on but kept the shirt unbuttoned as she rolled her shoulders and lifted her arms up in the air. “Nope. Feels good to me.” 

Marinette cleared her throat and wondered if it was rude to ask Chloé to hurry up and close her shirt already. “Well, I do this a lot. Aspiring designer and all that jazz.”

Chloé was about to start buttoning up her shirt, but she looked down at her chest and gasped at what she saw. “Oh dammit. Wait a minute. Do you have scissors?”

“Did I leave a thread loose?”

Chloé got closer and — oh for heaven’s sake — shoved her chest in Marinette’s face as she pointed to the center of her bra where a dark blue rose was embroidered. “I think there’s a loose string hanging off here. Do you see it?”

“Uhh….” Marinette swallowed and looked down to see a small bit of blue thread hanging right where the flower was sewn in. “Y-Yeah. This right here?”

“Yeah. Dammit, I think that’s because I was fiddling with it during class.”

Yeah, okay, so Marinette was going to do her best to  _ not _ think about Chloé with her hand down her shirt and fingering the designs on her bra while sitting in class, staring at the board, and not realizing how many stares she was probably catching in the process. 

“Do you want me to uh….cut it? I don’t have scissors but I have a seam ripper that might do the job if I’m careful.” 

“Wasn’t pointing it out for my health, Marinette. Make it quick. I still need to switch out my books.” 

Marinette dug through her bag for her seam ripper and had a little bit of a crisis when she realized that she was going to have to hold on to some part of Chloé in order to hold her steady and cut the thread. Her hand trembled when it reached out for Chloé’s shoulder and pulled her in closer. “I-I’m um….I need to kinda hold onto your….well….so I can cut it properly.”

Chloé got the message without Marinette having to say it and shrugged. “Go ahead.”

Marinette really hoped her blush wasn’t obvious because she could literally feel her cheeks heating up as she grabbed the center of Chloé’s bra. She felt the backs of her fingers brush up against the warm skin of Chloé’s breast as she tried to hook the seam ripper around the thread and snap it off as quickly as she could. This close, she could smell Chloé’s shampoo and Chloé’s perfume which certainly wasn’t helping her concentration and was actually making the warmth from her face start to pool deep in her chest and spread her flush to other parts of her body. 

Luckily cutting a thread took a lot less time than fixing a seam, and Marinette backed away from Chloé as quickly as she could the minute she was done. “Alright, better?”

Chloé smiled. “Much. Not bad, Dupain-Cheng. You’re pretty good in a pinch.”

God Marinette really couldn’t get her eyes off of Chloé’s chest this was so freaking bad. 

“Yeah, yeah it was no problem. Oh!” Marinette blinked when she saw one of Chloé’s bra straps hanging more loose on one shoulder than it was on the other. “Your straps are uneven.” 

“Seriously?” Chloé looked over her shoulder to try and see for herself. “Shoot, could you fix them for me?”

Chloé didn’t wait for an answer as she spun around and lifted her hair to give Marinette access to fix the straps, and honestly, since when the hell were people’s  _ backs _ attractive? Did Chloé work out? Were girls’ backs allowed to look this toned, lean, and perfect for running your hands up and down? How ridiculous was that?

Marinette tightened the offending strap and indulged herself by drumming her fingers against Chloe’s shoulder blades to let her know that she was done. As a finishing blow, Chloé cupped both of her breasts in her hands, lifted them up a little bit, and nodded as if she were deciding whether she was satisfied with how they looked. “What do you think? Better? Even?”

Perfect? Gorgeous? Smooth? Soft? 

“Uh huh!” Marinette squeaked out. 

“Brilliant.” Chloé finally —  _ finally!!! —  _ buttoned up her shirt right when the warning bell for next period started ringing through the building. Chloé cursed under her breath and quickly grabbed her coat and her bag. “Ugh, I still need to get to my locker and get my books. My literature teacher is gonna kill me if I’m late to her class again.” She was about to rush to the door and leave without saying a word before she stopped short and slowly turned around. 

“Oh, wait a minute. I forgot.” She cleared her throat and spoke as if she were reading from a script. “Thank you for your help. Is there anything I can do for you in return?”

Marinette snorted. “Adrien’s really broken you in, hasn’t he?” 

“Shut up.”

Marinette laughed, for the first time appreciating the fact that Chloé was at least putting in an effort. “How about a coffee first thing tomorrow morning and we can call it even?”

Chloé smirked. “I can do coffee.” She blew a kiss in Marinette’s direction and finally slipped out into the hallway. “Nice work, Dupain-Cheng. You’re officially my go-to for all future fashion disasters.” 

Marinette let out a huge breath once Chloé was out of the room and slowly started to pack up her things, thoughts of girls and curves and soft things still running through her mind up until the moment she sat down next to Alya during their next class. 

“Random question,” Marinette asked out of the blue. “Is it possible for boobs to make you feel all dizzy and lightheaded? Asking for a friend.”

Alya frowned and started looking through her bag. “Aw, are you on your period, babe? I have pain killers if you need them.”

“No, no. Not my boobs. Another person’s boobs.”

Alya furrowed her brows. “Any boobs that I know?” 

Marinette covered her face with both hands and whined petulantly. “If I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh.” 


	3. If I Could Tell Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in the life of a lovesick Chloé Bourgeois

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** a day dedicated to some pining! What are some things they wish they could say to each other but don’t have the courage to?

Chloé was sitting in the living room waiting for her driver to bring the car around when she finally checked all of Marinette’s 4am snapchats. 

At a certain point, she had to appreciate the artistic appeal of watching Marinette’s sanity slowly slip away the further Chloé tapped through her story. By three in the morning, Marinette had her history textbook draped over her face while she blasted a Stromae album, rapped along horribly to the lyrics, and added the caption ‘ _ I’m dropping out of school and becoming an overnight musical sensation.’ _ It was amazing how something could be tragic, beautiful, and hilarious all at the same time but she supposed if anyone was capable of pulling it off, it was a sleep deprived Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

Honestly, Chloé still hadn’t figured out what on Earth kept Marinette so busy that she was consistently staying up until sunrise to finish her assignments. Procrastination and Marinette didn’t go well together which meant she had to have been living some kind of double life as a model. Or an actress. Or something. Whatever. Chloé would look into it. Must be pretty important to be worth showing up to school late so many days in a row. 

Speaking of which…

Chloé made a quick phone call while she waved her butler over and quietly asked, “Could you put some coffee in a thermos for me? I don’t want to feel sluggish during class.” 

She was sent to voicemail three times before a confused, groggy voice finally answered the phone. “ _ I didn’t fall asleep! I was just resting…” _

Chloé let herself smile now that no one was looking. “You do realize it’s eight o’clock, right?”

“ _ Chloé?” _ Marinette mumbled. “ _ What the fu — how did you get my number…wait, what time is it?” _

“Yes it’s me, watch your language, snooped through Adrien’s phone, and it’s half an hour before school starts.” 

Chloé heard a scream, a thud, and a burst of running water. “ _SHIT!_ _How did I sleep through my alarms, I set like seven of them!?”_

“Listen, if you’re late to class one more time, you’re going to get sent to the principal’s office. Which means you’re going to miss first period. Which means that I can’t copy your notes and do my nails during class. So hurry up.”

“ _ Stop nagging me so I can get ready. And what do you mean you copy my notes? Are you serious?” _

“Chop chop, Marinette! We have maths first. You better be on time.” 

Chloé added a splash of milk to her coffee thermos and stole a leftover croissant from breakfast this morning before meeting her driver downstairs. She thought about stopping by the Dupain-Cheng bakery and waiting downstairs with an obnoxious countdown clock on her phone to really rub it in, but Chloé was pushing it with the latenesses herself and she wasn’t sure if offering to drive Marinette to school after that would be a weird thing to offer. Too soon probably. Something to work up to. Good thing that Marinette could bike to school in under ten minutes when she was motivated by the possibility of being late. 

After Chloé and Marinette had an extremely lively argument about the answer to a maths equation the class was tasked with solving, their maths teacher thought it best to seat them next to each other for the rest of the year in order to help them get along. The fight really wasn’t that big of a deal. Rivals had to keep up appearances, and sometimes that meant getting a little overdramatic. Although Chloé admittedly did take it too far when she threw that stapler. But then again, Marinette threw a tape dispenser so it was even blame at the end of the day. 

Anyway, the point was the seating arrangements were unnecessary because Chloé and Marinette didn’t need to learn how to get along with each other. They got along pretty okay now that they were older and Adrien no longer needed to blackmail Chloé into being passably courteous to her classmates. However, getting to sit next to Marinette in class now gave her a subtle yet foolproof excuse to talk to her at least once a day which was always a win in Chloé’s book. 

She was fixing up her makeup by the time Marinette dove into her seat three minutes before the period bell rang. 

“You’re a walking disaster,” Chloé commented, squinting into her mirror as she touched up her brows. “How much sleep did you get?” 

Marinette winced. “Uh, three…no two…wait, no. I think I just power napped. And maybe had a lucid dream in between homework assignments at some point. I don’t remember. Wait today’s Thursday, right?” 

Chloé leaned away from her. “Good lord…” She pushed the coffee and croissant across the table. “Eat. Caffeinate. Seriously. You’re creeping me out.” 

Marinette slowly opened the thermos and sniffed the contents as if she were afraid they were poisoned. “You got me coffee? That’s something you know how to do?”

“It’s fairly easy to obtain coffee, Marinette.”

“Wait, I can just have this? And the croissant?”

Chloé winced. “ _ Weeeeelllll _ …”

Marinette’s face fell. “Oh come on, what is it?”

“Let me copy your test corrections. I forgot to do them.”

“No way! Do you know how long I spent on those? I’m not going to let you just copy them.”

“I’m getting marked down in this class enough as it is. Just let me sneak a peek for two minutes. I’m a quick copier.”

Marinette pulled her books away from Chloé. “Coffee and  _ one _ croissant is not enough for test corrections.”

“Ugh, fine. I’ll buy you two croissants.”

“Nope. Still not good enough.”

“Well damn, woman, what do you want?”

Marinette tapped her chin and let her eyes fall on the tube of lipstick that Chloé had lying next to the brow palette she was using. “Is that Lancôme?”

Chloé’s eyes flew open. “Stop it! It’s new! I haven’t even used it yet.”

“I really love that color.”

“Marinette come  _ on! _ ”

“Class starts in less than a minute. Better do this before the teacher comes in.”

“Agh, fine!” Chloé slapped the tube of lipstick in Marinette’s hands and quickly took her test corrections before she changed her mind. “You better take care of that! It’s matte. And very expensive.” 

“I’m gonna dump it in the sink after class.”

“Marinette  _ please _ .” 

She laughed as she blew over the rim of the thermos and took a deep sip of her coffee. She furrowed her brows and looked at Chloé. “You put milk in this.”

Chloé nodded and straightened the notebooks on her desk so that Marinette wouldn’t catch her smiling. “Yeah, that okay? That’s how I take my coffee,” she lied. 

“No it’s perfect. I love when it’s got milk in it. Good guess!” 

Chloé winked at her. “What can I say? Good instincts.” 

In actual fact, Chloé had bullied Marinette’s favorite coffee order out of Alya a couple of days ago, but Marinette didn’t need to know that. Chloé had also done her test corrections last night while she was FaceTiming with Sabrina and didn’t really need to copy anyone’s answers after all, but Marinette also didn’t need to know that. Instead, Chloé pretended to copy over Marinette’s answers while she subtly glanced at Marinette happily enjoying her breakfast. 

She wasn’t aware of how long she was staring until she felt someone kick her chair from behind and shock her back into focus. Chloé looked over her shoulder and glared when she saw Adrien fluttering his eyelashes and making obnoxious kissing faces at her while Alya cackled under her desk next to him. She waited until the teacher was turned to the board before she crumpled up a piece of notebook paper and threw it right in Adrien’s face so that he’d shut up and leave her alone. 

Oh. Yeah. She forgot to mention that part. Sitting next to Marinette was great, but sitting behind the Smug Duo over here was a nightmare. 

“You know instead of pretending to bring her coffee for the sake of a bribe, you can just invite her out to coffee instead,” Adrien told her after class. “It would definitely be a more straightforward option.”

Chloé started scanning the tags on the lockers and trying to find which one was Marinette’s. “That would involve telling Marinette how I feel and I’d rather shave myself bald.” 

Alya rolled her eyes. “God, you’re so overdramatic.”  

“Do you understand that the likelihood of Marinette liking me back is like less than one percent?” Chloé explained. “You don’t date someone you have history with, it just doesn’t work that way.” 

“Says who?” Adrien asked. 

“Says me.” Chloé found Marinette’s locker and carefully slipped in the textbook that she had accidentally left on her desk before she raced out the classroom to head for her studio arts class. “If I tell her that I like her and she says no, it’s just gonna make things awkward between us. We’re finally getting along after like five years of knowing each other and I’m not messing that up by telling her anything.”

“Why are you so sure confessing is going to mess things up between you two?” Alya asked. “Trust me, I know that girl inside out. She’ll be more likely to feel awful that she can’t return your feelings then try to make you feel bad for having them.”

Chloé let out a fake sob. “Ugh, that’s almost worse…”

“You’re functioning under the assumption that it’s impossible for her to like you back,” Adrien said. “Is it so hard to believe that she could possibly have a crush on you too?” 

“Oh, please.”

“I’m serious. That girl wears her heart on her sleeve. It’s hard for her to hide her feelings.”

“That doesn’t mean she likes me. I’m not getting crush vibes from her.”

Alya shrugged. “I mean, they may not be full on crush vibes. But I feel like the old Marinette would’ve been weirded out by you bringing her coffee and being her wake up call in the mornings. She seems to roll with it just fine and actually enjoys it. If she isn’t crushing on you yet, she might be getting there.”

“Which is why this is the perfect time for you to confess!” Adrien grinned. “Let her warm up to the idea.” 

Chloé pushed passed them and started to walk to her next class. “I get that you two are bored or romantically unfulfilled or whatever it is that makes people meddle in other people’s love lives, but I’m seriously good on the romantic advice front. I know what I’m doing.” 

Alya frowned. “So you’re fine just…being nice to her and not letting things push past that point.” 

Chloé groaned as she paused in the doorway. “You guys make it sound like I’m miserable trying to keep this a secret. I’m fine, okay? Totally, one hundred percent fine with how things are.”

Adrien worried his lip. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Look I’ve gotta go to class, so can we do this later? And if either of you dare tell Marinette that I was the one who returned her book, I’ll start a smear campaign on both of you!”

“Isn’t that a little extreme?”

“No. In fact it isn’t extreme enough. So be grateful for my mercy.” 

For once, Chloé wasn’t lying. She truly didn’t mind not telling Marinette anything. She was big enough to admit that Marinette was so beautiful, kind, and popular that it was hard to not let that jealousy manifest into outright hatred. But hating her wasn’t nearly as satisfying as becoming friends with her. Just in the past couple of months, Chloé had been able to tease out charming little bits of her personality that she hadn’t known about before. Like the fact that she was wickedly sarcastic, quick to anger, and loved arguing with people just because it got her blood pumping and she found it fun. 

She could no longer resent Marinette’s ability to make everyone fall in love with her because Chloé had fallen into the same trap in almost no time at all. It hurt to know that she’d wasted so many years being cruel to her, and all she really wanted to do was act like a friend to her. Chloé often didn’t think about dating and kissing when she thought about Marinette. Not that she would ever be opposed to that happening, but it wasn’t the reason she liked being around Marinette. She liked making her smile. She liked being the reason Marinette could be happy for just a few minutes out of the day. Undoing all of the damage she’d caused this wonderful girl was all Chloé really wanted, and she didn’t need anything in return for it. 

Chloé didn’t see Marinette again until the lunch pause. Her study block was over, and she was about to leave the library before she saw Marinette passed out on one of the study tables. Chloé leaned down and jostled her shoulder until Marinette slowly blinked her eyes open and yawned. “Hey Chloé.”

“Coffee wear off?” 

She nodded sluggishly and started to fall back asleep. “Yeah I think so.” 

“You need to eat something,” Chloé said. “I get you’re tired, but you can’t skip meals.”

“I forgot to grab lunch this morning,” Marinette said. “And I don’t have time to go out and get something. I’d rather sleep.”

Chloé started to collect all of the homework that Marinette didn’t get a chance to complete last period. “How about this? I just ordered some sushi. Delivery guy should be here any minute. I’ll split my lunch with you and then we can go nap in the park or something.”

Marinette rubbed her eyes and gestured for her bag so that she could zip it up herself. “Why the park?”

“Figured it’s more comfortable than crouching over your desk like this. Seriously, you’re too pretty to grow up with horrible posture. How are you going to look as amazing as I do in strapless stuff?”

Marinette snorted and started to roll back her stiff shoulders. “Compelling argument.”

“Come on,” Chloé said. “I was gonna do some online shopping done in the park anyway. Plus, I think I ordered two lunch boxes by accident and I can’t eat it all by myself. So I hope you like chicken.” 

“Isn’t ordering takeout to the school against the rules?” Marinette teased. 

Chloé flicked her forehead. “Don’t nag me, Class Rep. Be happy I’m sharing my food with you.”

“No, no, I am happy! That’s…really nice of you Chloé. Thank you.” 

“You were drooling on your desk. That’s embarrassing. I can’t be seen with people who drool on their desks, so I figured I’d come rescue you from making a fool out of yourself.” 

“Oh shut up. I’m up late a lot, I can’t help it.”

“Yeah, about that. What is it with you and staying up so late all the time? What do you do all day?”

“At night, I become a masked superhero who fights evil and runs around in spandex.”

“Hilarious. And unoriginal.” 

“Hey, what happened to being nice to me? I liked that earlier.” 

“I’m physiologically incapable of being nice for longer than sixty seconds. I’m seeing a doctor about it.”

“Oh, how  _ absolutely _ awful.”

“It really is. I’m trying to raise awareness about the disease.” 

Chloé pulled a blanket from her locker and walked them to the park a couple of blocks away from the school where other students were lounging in the sun, playing games, and catching up on homework. Marinette practically attacked the carton of food the minute Chloé handed it to her and started muttering something about definitely paying Chloé back because she simply couldn’t accept this without making up for it somehow. Chloé gracefully ignored the offer and made it a point to keep an eye for any money she may soon find in her locker of her notebooks so that she could return it to Marinette later on. 

They weren’t at that point where they were particularly chatty with one another. Marinette asked Chloé about how studying for exams was going and Chloé remembered to ask whether Marinette was having any luck figuring out what fashion school she might want to start applying to next year. The conversation pretty much fizzled out after that, but Chloé didn’t mind. Chloé was fine turning on some music and catching up on her literature homework while Marinette ate next to her and laughed at the two three year olds playing tag only a few feet in front of them. 

Marinette finished eating long before Chloé did, so Chloé grabbed her bag and shoved it underneath Marinette’s head so that she could have a pillow to lean on while she slept. She told Chloé to wake her up in ten minutes because she needed to start her homework early, but Chloé merely pretended to set the alarm and decided to let her sleep for the full two hours. She needed to remember to find a concealer in Marinette’s skin tone and figure out a subtle way of giving that to her. Poor thing was going to need it if she kept showing up to school running on fumes. 

Chloé kept doing homework until she got bored and pulled out her tablet to get some shopping done. It didn’t take long for Marinette to knock out and start lightly snoring next to her. Chloé laughed through the short video she took of the sight and texted it to Marinette before indulgently smoothing the hair away from her sleeping face. 

“Yup. Definitely a walking disaster,” she whispered as she played with Marinette’s bangs. “You need to sleep more, you idiot.” Marinette shifted in her sleep and hugged Chloé’s bag closer, still trapped in a deep sleep that Chloé felt guilty breaking her out of. 

Chloé really wasn’t sure how crushes worked. Or rather, she didn’t know where friendships ended and crushes started, or whether they were really just one and the same thing with only subtle shades of difference separating them. Marinette coming to have lunch and nap in the park with her seemed like a huge step for them. They weren’t close yet, and Chloé wouldn’t have been offended if Marinette had said no to her invitation. But Marinette did say yes, and it was hard to figure out whether the excitement Chloé felt was because of a progressing friendship or because of the lingering shreds of a stupid hope that Marinette secretly felt the same about her. 

She hated entertaining that hope because it wasn’t important to her. It really wasn’t. Chloé could die happy just being Marinette’s friend because that all by itself was a beautiful thing. But god, how perfect would it be to have Marinette look her in the eye and tell her that she liked her back? To call things like these dates? To not have to pretend that her gestures had ulterior motives? 

Chloé sighed and let her thumb brush over Marinette’s cheek before she turned back to her tablet and tried to let Marinette sleep. It was probably just her touch starved brain talking. Maybe if she went to Adrien’s house after school to study and watch movies, it would help stop her brain from lingering on silly thoughts. Marinette was probably having a hard enough time learning how to be friends with Chloé after everything they’d gone through. 

It would be selfish to demand anything more than that, and Adrien had been telling her for a long time that Chloé needed to stop being so darn selfish. 


End file.
